Scott Ki

Four Idaho reporters watched as an execution team inserted I-V's into convicted murderer Richard Leavitt today . This was the first time witnesses were allowed to watch what happens as soon as the condemned is wheeled into the death chamber on a gurney. the Idaho Department of Correction would not have changed its ways without a lawsuit.

The Associated Press and other Idaho news organizations sued the state to view Richard Leavitt’s entire execution. They won last Friday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 1985, a jury convicted Richard A. Leavitt of the brutal first-degree murder of Danette J. Elg a year earlier. Elg of Blackfoot, Idaho had been stabbed more than a dozen times and her body was mutilated. The state will execute 53 year-old Leavitt Tuesday by lethal injection unless there’s a last minute stay. .

Male death row prisoners are housed in the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, or Idaho Max. Guards moved Leavitt to a lone cell last month after the state Department of Correction served him with a death warrant.

The Associated Press and other news agencies sued the state of Idaho yesterday to view prisoner executions from start to finish. Reporters want to be able to observe and report any complications that might come up.

AP reporter Rebecca Boone is among those fighting to see the entire execution.

Rebecca Boone: "This is the most powerful action that the courts and government can take, it’s killing a person. So if we don’t know what happens for half of that process, then it’s impossible to have an educated and vital debate about it."

Horizon Air will be establishing new inland northwest bases of operation starting in August. The airline plans to expand to three Northwest cities.

Horizon Air now bases its flight crews in Seattle and Portland. By the end of the summer, its nearly 900 pilots and flight attendants will also call Boise, Idaho, Medford, Oregon and Spokane, Washington home. Paul McElroy is a spokesman for the airline.

Religious beliefs and contraception collided today in the Idaho House of Representatives. a majority of state lawmakers voted to send a message to the President and U.S. Congress to reject a new birth control policy.

BOISE, Idaho – A new investigative project ranks Idaho 40th out of 50 states for government accountability and openness. The Gem State fails six categories outright, including ethics enforcement agencies. As Scott Ki reports, The study comes out Monday as state senators investigate one of their own.

BOISE, ID – Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney visited Boise today for a private lunch and public rally. More than twelve hundred people turned out for that rally at a company that makes modular housing projects.

BOISE – Micron CEO Steve Appleton died in a plane crash at the Boise airport Friday morning. The 51-year old was at the helm of the Boise, Idaho based memory chip company for nearly 20 years. Scott Ki has the latest on the crash investigation.